Kovack Advisors Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Kovack Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) by 142.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,945 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,257 shares during the quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $1,030,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CCI. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 4.2% during the third quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA now owns 2,215 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $204,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 51.1% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 287 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. lifted its position in Crown Castle by 17.3% in the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 677 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Waterfront Wealth Inc. increased its position in Crown Castle by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. now owns 5,515 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $635,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 18,986 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,747,000 after buying an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on CCI. Bank of America reduced their target price on Crown Castle from $120.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Crown Castle from $133.00 to $118.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Crown Castle from $126.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Argus cut Crown Castle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.29.

Crown Castle Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of CCI traded down $0.63 during trading on Friday, reaching $93.58. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,697,322 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,940,738. The company has a fifty day moving average of $103.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $105.25. Crown Castle Inc. has a twelve month low of $84.72 and a twelve month high of $123.79. The company has a market cap of $40.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.73.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.92). Crown Castle had a net margin of 20.32% and a return on equity of 21.30%. The business had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.91 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.69%. Crown Castle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 195.63%.

Crown Castle Profile

Crown Castle owns, operates and leases more than 40,000 cell towers and approximately 90,000 route miles of fiber supporting small cells and fiber solutions across every major U.S. market. This nationwide portfolio of communications infrastructure connects cities and communities to essential data, technology and wireless service – bringing information, ideas and innovations to the people and businesses that need them.